Where to start...

Hello everyone! As you have read my hubby & I are starting the IVF cycle, let me tell you about all that has led up to this... Clay & I got married 06/07/08, the happiest day of my life! Clay was diagnosed with bilateral Retinoblastoma around 8 months old. As a result, he has had 1 eye enucleated & went through radiation to the existing eye. Shortly after we got married we visited with a genetic counselor to find out if we could have children naturally that are unaffected by retinoblastoma. Unfortunately that was a no! The counselor told us it was a 50% chance that our child would have retinoblastoma. We discussed all of our options & decided that we would undergo In Vitro Fertilization with preimplantation genetic diagnosis. What this means is, we will go through an In Vitro cycle & once our eggs have been fertilized, a piece of DNA will be extracted. This DNA will be tested for the genetic mutation for retinoblastoma. The unaffected embryos are then available for implantation. So far we have had several rounds of bloodwork. We found out that Clay has a deletion on his 13th chromosome from18-23. Which means, part of his DNA sequencing is missing causing his retinoblastoma. Also, I have had bloodwork to check my estrogen, progesterone, & FSH levels (all normal). I have also had an ultrasound to see how many follicles (where the egg comes from) I have & it's 15 in the left & right ovary (That's GOOD!). I also had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) showing that my fallopian tubes are functioning properly. The next step is a siemenalysis for Clay on Friday. So wish us luck!!